Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1887-11-18
A WAR EXPERIENCE.
a story ofhe Late War.

"a little older"
The Commander-in-chief pulled his
cigar at thoughtful intervals. The war
was by twenty-five years a thing of the
past, but as head Of a great commercial
enterprise a military title still chung to
him from out OF his war experience,
and he did not dislike it, for some of
his war memories appeared to be his
most cherished mental treasures. So
he debated with his cigar over the two
young people whose sentimental rash
ness had brought them into public
notice, and as he debated he was look
ing backward over the diverse pano-
rama Of two decades of life, through
the rifted smoke clouds of a great re-
belliOn at little drama that seemed
almost dream, but which to him was.
perhaps, the best-remembered Incl
dent Of all the five years fight And
when he told it, half musingiy, the
listeners did not wonder. The ways Of
Fate are very diverse, and it some
times happens to the least imaginative
in the maddening crowd that a face
which IS looked into only for a moment
is never forgotten IN all the lengths Of
the years that follow. Perhaps it was
50 With the COmmander-iL-chief Per
haps not. In any event, nobody dared
to ask
"In the fall of 1868, " he began, a
vas stationed with a detachment at
Paint Rock, Ala. We were drawing on
the enemy for supplies-foraging, in
fact. Our crackers and bareback we
got from Stevenson, but for fodder for
our horses and anything to add sumptu-
BUSINESS to the appearance of the frying
pan we had TO depend on the country.
For some weeks 1 had sent out the
wagon train to the east, the south
east, and down the valley Of the Paint
Rock Greek. The only direction left
for investigation was at the west,
where, at u distance of twenty-One
miles, was Huntsville, then the capital
Of Northern Alabama, which, up to the
time of the war, had been a wealthy,
aristocratic and fashionable city. Well,
one pleasant morning / sent the wagons
across the creek and followed them
with a guard of twenty men. 1t was
reported from time to time that the
country ahead of US was full of rebel
guerrillas. but we saw no signs of them,
and for two months had no trouble
whatever with any foe.
After crossing the creek the wagons
took q road which wound along the
foot of q spur at the Blue Ridge Mount
aims, which rose green, heavily wooded,
and picturesque at our backs. We
passed several small clearings and
plantations, whose log houses were
filled with hot-biOOded and hot-temp-
cred Southern women, whose evident
desire to hay us with their tinger-nails
rather interfered with that sweet spirit
of hospitality for which the South is
famous. At a distance Of seven miles
1 halted tine detachment at a cool but
sinister-lOOking place in the road
known to all the country round as
The Gap
"The Gap was the entrance to o
pass through one Of the outlying mount
ain spurs. 1t was "a deep hollow,
heavily wooded. The dense growth of
towering pines and frs grew close to
the roadside. The woody spaces were
so filled with underground and blocked
by fallen trees that as you peered into
the dark recess es of the forest on
either side a hostile army might have
been sheltered there without you being
able to perceive n button. 1 remember
the looks of the place, because the first
time / saw it it made me rather IN
easy, and the last time but one that ]
saw it I came near staying there for
good, as did, in fact, some other poor
fellows who were not so fortunate.
''Weli, after a rest, we kept on, and
few miles further we came on a plan
tation of $50 acres, with q large and
comfortable looking residence near the
roadside. The wagons had reached
there long before us. They were being
rapidly filed from a row Of We'll stored
eorn-cribs ut the back of the house.
had Just gotten OF my horse near the
. door when two girls came toward me
and if 1 were not telling this story
gentlemen. would honestly declar,
that they were the two prettiest girls
ever saw in my life.
"They were both tall and slender
with graceful and womanly figures
They were dressed in dark-blue calico
and had no artificial aids to their fresl
young beauty. Their faces were intel
Ggent and full of resolution, We
marked 10y that shyness which belong
to girls who are we'll born and bred il
comparative seclusion. The elder
Ellen, was dark-eyed and darz-haired
Addie was II, two years younge
than her sister, and n yelloW-hairet
and blue-eyed blonde. The apparitiOi
they presented astOnished u.s. 1 thin
all the men took of their hats instinct
lively. know 1 did And as my Ia
was a real Mexican sOmbrerO, AM
matched the long Mexican spurs tina
iingled on my heels, / was rather ION
of keeping it on my head,
at was Ellen who spoke, tho othe
staying a little behind. Sir she said
in a troubled voice, you look like
gentleman. One Of your men ha
taken our guitar. 1t is all that we hav
left, and it is a great consolation Wi
you not be good enough to have it II
turnedP
"The guitar was returned to he
forthwith as quickly as the man coul
be found who had it. She was prOfus
in her thanks, and the light IN ia
younger sisters ewes at tho salvation {
the instrument indicated how highly
was valued. The corn ana supple
they did not appear to grieve over par
ticularly, as / prevented any destruc
ton of the cribs or any unnecessarl
damage to the property. Consequent,
I was very Hospitality received in tn
house. The family consisted of an oil,
gentleman named Sunderland, hi
wife, and three daughters. Sunderland
was a well-tO-do planter, though to-
old to take arms He was a doctor b.
profession and a Methodist preacher b,
choice. His family circle was, IN 1t
refinement and the beauty Of the girls
something charming, particularly TO
horse soldier who for some years hal
known only the roughness Of the camp
The eldest daughter was married, he
husband being a captain IN the rehe
army. The other two were our fai
petitioners, and with them I enjoyed
hattering degree Of popularity from
the start
The Commander-in-chief stoppet
aud gaZed with a smile into the Ala